Charger  
Someone who pushes themselves with all they have.

Channel
Bottom shape dating back to 1970, credited to Jim Pollard of Australia, in which grooves are cut lengthwise along the surfboard, usually through the tail half. Many different types of channels have a variety of effects on performance; generally they add drive and direction to turns, especially in the most common modern variation, the six-channel "clinker" bottom.

Cheater Five
Five toes on the nose - keeping your weight back on the board to maintain trim and speed, squat down and extend one foot forward.

Chill  Category: Culture
To calm down when not getting good waves. Synonym: Laying Low, Relaxin', Chillaxin'.

Chillax
More than just Chilling/Relaxing. There's an attitude involved; typically that of a surf bum.

Chinese Wax Job
When you get wax on the bottom of your surfboard. Usually occurs from it being stacked or packed against another waxed board. The result can be a board that's slower and less responsive.

Choppy
Bumpy ocean and wave conditions that are rough due to strong winds and/or currents. Wind velocities are usually over 12 knots to create choppy conditions.

Chubby Checker
Particular breed of poser (usually male, heavyset and middle aged) that spends an excellent surf day checking all the best spots, chatting about conditions, but never paddles out. Usually loiters in the parking lot before declaring the surf isn't perfect enough and moves. His roof rack holds a longboard that looks like it's never been used.

Chuf
Word used to emphasize something that turns out bad. It's said with a drawn out "u". Example: "Yo Barn. You totally blew that frontside schwack. Chuuuuuf."

Chunks
Descriptive word used when a surfer hammers out a solid roundhouse cutback or off the top where he throws "chunks" or spray off the back of the wave. A Sebastian Inlet local nicknamed Knokester (Smokey, Knokulator) is known for this when he does a solid bottom turn and nails the top of the wave.

Church of the Open Sky
Description for the ocean and what one experiences when they partake in her offerings...surfing or other water related activity.

Claw
When your hands are too cold to open or close anything. Brought on from surfing in frigid water.

Claim
The proclamation exhibited by waving ones arms in the air. Especially after an exceptionally good ride or maneuver.

Clean
Good surfing conditions with decent wave energy, a smooth or glassy ocean surface and very little onshore wind. Offshore winds blowing into the faces of the waves can create clean, groomed conditions.

Clean-up set
A much larger wave or a set of waves, which breaks further outside than normal. A clean-up set usually "cleans" the line-up of surfers caught further inside.

Cleanup Wave
A rogue wave that breaks outside of the lineup and dumps on those set up at the peak.

Clidro
The leg pumping action that causes a surfer to gain speed while going up and down the face of the wave as he heads down the line. The action is usually done to set up a maneuver or gain speed to make it around a collapsing section of a wave.

Clipped
Occurrence when the lip of a breaking wave knocks a surfer off of his board.

Climbing and dropping
Turning up and down the face of a wave as you surf down the line. A very good technique for gaining speed with each turn.

Cloud Nine
A floater; to traverse across the lip of a breaking wave as it closes out and then dropping back into the face to continue/finish a ride.

Closeout 
When all parts of the wave-down the line or crest of the wave-break at the same time. (Opposite of closeouts, the ideal waves for surfing are ones that break from one side to the other so the surfer can angle across the face of the wave.)

Combo swell
A combination of swells from varying directions, which will create peaky and crossed up conditions as the waves merge together. Combo swells are great for most beachbreaks but break up the perfect lines at most reef and point breaks.

Computer
("computer board", "computer shape") Many top shapers currently use highly accurate machines to cut blanks into near-ready shapes, or "pre-shapes". These are driven by computer programs, which use data from the shapers' prototype designs (see "plug"). The computer has reduced man-hours on a shape job to as little as 15 minutes.